Lifestyles of the fabulously wealthy to whom recession is an unknown concept

They are neither threatened by global recession nor affected by inflation. They will down a Sh5,000 tot of whisky or quaff a Sh20,000 bottle of champagne and think nothing of it.

They have few qualms about buying vehicles that cost upwards of Sh10 million and their property valuations often include figures of over Sh20 million.

They do not need to chase down a bank or company loan to buy a car or a home, yet pricey vehicles like the Chrysler and the latest model Range Rovers litter their driveways.

They are the fabulously wealthy of Kenya. And while most Kenyans have been tightening their belts, the rich continue to amass luxury cars and lavish homes.

Clear indication

Rashid Nziwa, a motor vehicle salesman at a car yard in Nairobi, says that while the overall volume of car sales may have gone down over the past two years, the sale of more costly vehicles has risen, a clear indication that the rich still have money to splash.

Mr Nziwa, who prefers not to name his employer, says his company sells no fewer than three of the latest model of the Toyota Prado each month. The buyers either walk in and “cut cheques”, he says, or send their assistants to “close the deals”. A second-hand Prado goes for about Sh3 million.

MPs are among the buyers, he said, but the majority are wealthy business people.

And a majority of the wealthy, having acquired plush residences in Nairobi – some going for as much as Sh60 million – are extending their interests to upmarket residential developments on the outskirts of the capital.

A property dealer with Crystal Valuers Ltd says that while the sale of high-end residential properties may have declined, there is increasing excitement over estates being developed on the periphery of Nairobi and near satellite towns like Thika. Some of these residential properties, priced between Sh2.5 million and Sh4 million per unit, are being constructed with the middle-income professional in mind, and they are moving fast.

But most of the buyers don’t come from the middle-income group; the main buyers are the very wealthy, according to the property dealer, who wasn’t comfortable being named because he didn’t want to breach the trust of clients.

High sale rate

“We are receiving up to six payments in a day. That is a high sale rate out of Nairobi,” he said.

The result of the quick purchases, many of which appear to be for purposes of speculation, is a further upward pressure on real estate prices, pushing the properties out of the range of the original target market.

In response to rising demand from the big spenders for properties in the outskirts of Nairobi, Crystal Valuers placed adverts in newspapers recently for a planned residential complex three kilometres from Thika town, about 40 minutes’ drive from Nairobi.